Assault on infant stopped with Taser in Amherst
By Dan Herbeck
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Amherst police used a Taser device to bring down a suspect early Thursday after the man allegedly grabbed a six-month-old infant and began to slash her throat in a West Amherst apartment complex.
The baby girl was reported to be in stable condition in Women & Children’s Hospital, where was she was taken after the dramatic encounter between the assailant and three officers shortly before 4 a. m.
Jeffrey Hernandez, 19, of Sweeney Street in North Tonawanda, was arrested and charged with felony counts of attempted murder and assault. He was identified by police as the boyfriend of the baby’s mother.
“It was a terrible situation that could have been 10 times worse,” said Timothy M. Green, assistant chief of the Amherst Police Department.
Green said three officers responded to an apartment on Travers Circle after the baby’s 19-year-old mother called 911 to report that Hernandez was beating her.
When officers got to the apartment, they spoke briefly to the mother and then were confronted with the sight of Hernandez, holding the baby in his arms and putting a knife to her throat, police said.
“Two of the officers drew their guns, and the other officer pulled out the Taser,” Green said. “They repeatedly told [Hernandez] to drop the knife, but he began to cut the throat of the baby.”
One of the officers fired the Taser — which shoots an electrified projectile — at Hernandez.
“He dropped the baby, but then made a move toward her with the knife, and the officer fired the Taser at him again,” Green said.
After that, officers grabbed Hernandez and put him in handcuffs. They also began administering first aid to the wounded baby until paramedics arrived with a Twin City Ambulance crew, Green said.
The two officers with guns were reluctant to shoot because they were worried about hitting the baby, or a bullet going through a wall and striking someone in another apartment, the assistant chief said.
“This whole thing was a quick, dramatic situation that happened in a very short time,” Green said.
The mother of the baby was treated at the scene but did not require hospitalization, police said.
Green said the Taser device has only been in use by Amherst officers for a couple of months. He said a specially trained member of the department’s Emergency Response Team used the device on Hernandez.
“I think this was a great example of officers having different tools at their disposal and using the right tool in this particular circumstance,” Green said.
Police declined to release names of the baby, her mother or any of the officers involved in the incident. They said they do not believe that Hernandez is the father of the baby.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregio...ry/700840.html
Linear Mode
